Our Apologies
by Rainbowsharpies
Summary: Iruka knew he would eventually have to deal with Kakashi again, but he had never considered that it might be so soon after the chuunin exams.


Title: Our Apologies

Summary: Iruka knew he would eventually have to deal with Kakashi again, but he had never considered that it might be so soon after the chuunin exams.

Rating: M (soon)

Author's note: Heyheyhey! It's been forever since I've written something (years since I've written for Naruto). I'm really hoping this will put my other stuff to shame. I'm older and wiser now, and definitely stepping outside my comfort zone with this. By the way, this may come out pretty AU because I haven't actually watched or read canon Naruto in sooo friggin long, so just assume this is the way it happens in MY universe and don't get on me about it, k? I realize a LOT has happened since the chuunin exams, but MY story takes place right after them. ^.^ LET'S DO THIS.

Iruka knew he would eventually have to deal with Kakashi again, but he had never considered that it might be so soon after the chuunin had hoped that he might get a little more time to compose himself, but no such luck.

Only three days had passed since team seven had passed with flying colors when Kakashi came sauntering into the mission room on Iruka's shift, report in hand. Iruka felt his face heat up when they made eye contact from across the room.

At the time of the incident, his outburst had seemed well founded. Naruto was like a son to him, or perhaps a little brother. Sure, Naruto had grown close to Sakura and Sasuke since joining team seven, but memories of a time when Iruka was the only one would look at him without judgment in his eyes or hatred in his heart were still fresh.

Sakura he was also protective over. She was a good student and a smart girl, but she was weak, physically and emotionally and had proven herself to be naive and a tad immature, even for her young age.

Sasuke he wasn't so worried about, needless to say. He had always come out on top in class and he was in possession of strong family bloodlines that added to his impressive seal knowledge, formidable physical strength and stamina as well as work ethic and dedication.

Iruka tried not to play favorites but there was also the matter of the barrier that Sasuke had built up in attempt to keep him and anyone else from getting too close to him that made it difficult for Iruka to become too attached to him.

Indeed, he felt well within his rights to feel protective over his students (now Kakashi's students, he had to remind himself.), but he had clearly overstepped some boundaries with the way had spoken to Kakashi that day and despite some lingering feelings of anger towards the man, ever polite, he would make himself apologize.

He had totally crossed the line. He had been very rude to a high ranking, respected shinobi, and completely underestimated his students and by proxy, the teaching skills of Hatake Kakashi. He couldn't be more embarrassed of that fact, and he was thoroughly unprepared to issue his apology.

He could only hope that the jounin would go easy on him and accept his apology without upsetting him so he could avoid embarrassing himself yet again. The normally mild mannered chuunin could have quite a temper when provoked (and sometimes unprovoked if you asked his students), and sometimes it put him in uncomfortable situations. This was a good example of that.

Iruka wrenched himself from his musings for long enough to realize that Kakashi was in his line and getting closer and closer to the front. He inwardly panicked and wracked his brain for a suitable apology.

Despite being truly sorry for the way he behaved, he refused to grovel. However, he really would've liked to restore the tentative friendship they were beginning to share. He was rather fond of the eccentric jounin and he would feel a lot better if he could keep the lines of communication open, even if just for Naruto's sake.

It appeared he was screwed now. Kakashi was next in line and he had yet to think of anything appropriate to say.

_Why did he even choose this line? There are two other desks open! _Iruka thought. _If he came here to heckle me, apologies be damned, I swear I will kill him. _

When Kakashi finally reached him, he found himself wide eyed, red faced and stammering. "Ah, Kakashi-san…Your report?"

The silver haired man in front of him held it out to him without another word, adding greatly to Iruka's discomfort. Kakashi seemed totally oblivious to the awkwardness surrounding him, and if he noticed, he didn't seem to mind.

Iruka took his report and looked it over. It was more crumpled and illegible than usual! There were doodles in the margins (and not all of them appropriate, to say the least), there was a coffee stain covering a large area of the paper, and it looked as if a dog had taken a bite out of the top left corner!

Iruka felt his blood boil. He looked from the report to Kakashi, and much to his astonishment, the man was grinning like it was the funniest thing in the world!

_He's trying to piss me off again. I just know it! Well, I'm not going to give him the satisfaction. _

Iruka took a deep breath and counted to ten.

"Kakashi-san…" He started cautiously. "You know I can't accept this,"

"Why ever not, Iruka-sensei?" Kakashi finally spoke, his face of course not visible, but with an exaggerated smirk evident in his voice.

Part of Iruka was glad to see that there apparently weren't any hard feelings between them and Kakashi was just going to go back to being his usual jackass self. But a bigger, more visceral part of him was outraged.

He had been agonizing over the incident for three days and apparently it was totally insignificant to Kakashi. He was angry and humiliated for even letting himself believe that he could be so significant in his life.

He sighed and put the report in one of the piles on his desk.

"I'll make this work, Kakashi-san. You're dismissed,"

Kakashi's face fell. _Dismissed?_ He didn't know what to say, so he left the mission room dejectedly. He found a cozy tree to perch atop near the mission room and think.

_What's eating him? Usually he'd tear me a new one if I pulled something like that. Perhaps he's still bent out of shape about the chuunin exam thing. I suppose I should apologize. _

He sighed. For most people, NOT having Iruka direct his anger at them would be a very good thing. And sure, it was a little scary sometimes, even for a high ranking jounin like himself. But that was the only way they really knew how to communicate with each other. It was like friendly banter to them! Kakashi was flippant and Iruka got mad. It was cute!

He liked fiery Iruka. Cold Iruka was a bore. He was going to get things back to normal no matter how uncomfortable this conversation was sure to be.

Or! Maybe he wouldn't have to apologize at all! Perhaps he could just play a few charming little pranks until he finally snapped and turned red for him! It would be risky business, but definitely entertaining, so that was what he did.

* * *

><p>Iruka was in better spirits the next morning. He had a good night's sleep which always helped. Maybe he had overreacted after all. He seemed to do that quite a lot. Perhaps he and Kakashi could someday be friends (again?), but he wasn't apologizing. It meant nothing to Kakashi so it would mean nothing to him.<p>

He needed to stop letting Kakashi push his buttons so easily. From now on, nothing Kakashi said or did would bother him. He was confident he could do it.

He finished his coffee, tied his hitai ate and made his way to morning classes with a new spring in his step. He arrived an hour early like always and went over the lesson plan for that day. Target practice and a pop quiz; nothing too stressful. Today would be a good day.

* * *

><p>About an hour into class, Iruka had to pee. He hated to leave the little hellions unattended, but he really had to go!<p>

He shot the whole class a warning look that promised death or worse (perhaps detention!) if they tried anything funny when he was gone. He thought he actually heard someone in the third row gulp aloud, though he couldn't discern who.

He was glad he could still inspire _some_ amount of fear in his students. He thought he might be losing his touch and he was relieved to see that he still had it in him.

He whistled a merry tune as he headed towards the men's room.

* * *

><p>Back at the classroom, one of the ballsier students was now sitting in Iruka's chair, spinning around, having the time of his life. A few of his classmates were laughing, but most of them looked nervous. Iruka was very territorial with his stuff. No one touched his stuff, and certainly no one sat in his beloved extra comfy swivel chair. That wasn't even an academy chair. Iruka brought that chair from home because he so thoroughly loathed uncomfortable chairs.<p>

The poor kid nearly peed his pants when moments later, Kakashi appeared right next to him in a puff of smoke.

"Iruka's going to be pretty mad when he finds out you were messing with his stuff. And don't fool yourself into thinking he won't notice," Kakashi warned, nonchalantly plucking him from Iruka's chair and dropping him back in his own seat.

"Please don't tell Iruka-sensei!" pleased the suddenly contrite pre-genin. Kakashi pretended to consider this very carefully for a while.

"Tell you what, kid. I won't tell on you this time." The aforementioned kid breathed a sigh of relief.

"And since I'm such a nice guy, I'll even let you blame it on me. See, I'm not afraid of your sensei. Not much, at least,"

The kid could not believe his luck! He was a little confused though, when the copy ninja began to rearrange the stuff on Iruka's desk. He only made small changes. Changes a normal person probably wouldn't even notice. His mug was moved to the other side of the desk and a stack of papers was moved a few inches to the right.

Last but not least, he peeled the top note off a pad of lime green sticky notes and scribbled something on it, then stuck it where the teacher would find it, but not right away. He disappeared only seconds before Iruka returned from his brief trip to the restroom. The whole class held their breaths waiting for Iruka to notice the changes to his desk.

The crazy haired ninja had been pretty cool. Too bad he was dead meat.

* * *

><p>And there you have it! Chapter two will move up in my priorities if I know people are waiting for it (REVIEWS PLEASE) and otherwise I will take my time. I swear this will get sexy as soon as possible. The T rating is very temporary. Feel free to bring any typos or distracting grammatical errors to my attention. I've proofread it at least fifteen times myself, but I can only do so much without a beta (any offers?). Thanks, guys!<p> 


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